As I dig deeper into after effects, I realize its like illustrator and photoshop combined with a timeline thrown in the mix.  Its such a powerful tool and i'm learning a whole lot. Here are a few loves, hates , and questions i've asked my self along this after effects trail.

- Color Palette - Is there a swatches panel? I find it really hard to Pick and save the colors I want to work with. Googling the answer didn't seem to help much - the forums say to use Adobe Kuler to save color palettes. I love Kuler so this seems like a viable solution.

- Is there a Direct Selection tool? I found it hard to adjust the objects the way I want to. Coming from an illustrator background, the selection tool is a lot different. I love that it's alot like illustrator. Here's what google says:

- Click away making sure that no layers are selected (this step is not necessary but it gets you at a blank starting point)
- Click the layer that has the mask you want to adjust (the mask should become visible and highlight)
- Grab one of the points directly, Trying to select multiple points at this time will just move the layer.
After you have selected a point you will notice the box (don't know the technical name) disappears from the layer and all the other points on the mask become hollow
- Now you mask is selected and you can drag a box to select multiple points, or just work on the one you originally selected.
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thanks googs.

I'm finding that After effects is like Illustrator with different tools and with keyframes. Keyframes are like timezones for your illustration. You start in one timezone and then create the next frame in another timezone and after effects will fill in the in between zones with the difference.

This is what I've got show for all my struggles: